RPT-Rivals read what they want in Obama Keystone remarks

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama
weighed in on the Keystone XL pipeline controversy on Tuesday,
his comments became a kind of Rorschach inkblot test for rival
lobbies, reflecting their wishes for the fate of the
long-delayed project.

The pipeline, designed to carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil
per day from the Canadian oil sands and the Bakken shale in
North Dakota and Montana south to Texas refineries, was first
proposed in 2008, but approval has been delayed several times
due to a groundswell of criticism.

For months, the White House has been loathe to comment on
the pipeline, which is still wending its way through a State
Department study process.

Environmental critics argue that extracting crude from the
oil sands in Northern Alberta produces an excessive amount of
carbon pollution. Obama's political critics - business groups
and Republicans - have urged him to approve Keystone because of
the oil and construction jobs the pipeline will bring.

On Tuesday, Obama laid down his standard for approving the
project, a surprise inclusion in a wide-ranging speech at
Georgetown University about his plan for limiting carbon
emissions responsible for climate change.

"Our national interest will be served only if this project
does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon
pollution," he said.

"The net effects of the pipeline's impact on our climate
will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project
is allowed to go forward. It's relevant."
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